


Breathe into me and make me real

by jenniferjun1per



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Jyn wears Cassian's jacket, Post-Battle of Scarif
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 08:42:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10213799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenniferjun1per/pseuds/jenniferjun1per
Summary: Cassian is in the worst shape of his life. Jyn fights to stay strong.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tigersmeleth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tigersmeleth/gifts).



> Another follow-up for my lovely readers! This one follows "Warmth", but technically it can stand on its own. Also, I have no medical training, this is just from my imagination.
> 
> Title taken from Bring Me to Life by Evanescence.

Cassian floated in the bacta tank, and all Jyn could do was watch.

 

Bodhi sometimes stood with her, Chirrut too, Baze had pulled up a chair and left it by her side for the times he would keep her company. The princess would come too, sometimes with Han, but usually alone. Draven visited once, but when he saw the state of his most valued officer he never returned. Mon Mothma would drift in at times, sometimes Jyn wouldn’t even realize she was there.

 

When he was done with the bacta, he had been put into a medically induced coma because of his head injuries. The med droids patiently explained to her that she couldn’t be there with him, that he would recover better if he were left alone. She dismantled one with her fists and had started on a second when Bodhi and Baze got a hold of her, Baze holding her firmly back and Bodhi whispering urgently in her ear,  _ Stop, it’s not worth it, you’re not helping him _ .

 

They took her back to her room and she collapsed on her bed, exhaustion finally seeping into her bones after days of watching and waiting.

 

They hadn’t survived Scarif for it to come to this. A mission that was supposed to be  _ simple _ , that was only supposed to take  _ two days _ , and it all went to hell. Jyn clutched at the kyber crystal around her neck, remembered her mother’s words. She had to trust. She had nothing else.

 

\---

 

In the middle of the night she decided to go back to the medbay, but when she got there she saw there were guards, standing on either side of the medbay doors. When she attempted to walk past them, they stopped her, and she realized they were there for her. To keep her out. She briefly considered breaking their knees, but she remembered Bodhi’s words, and gifted them only with an obscene gesture as she walked away.

 

She didn’t go back to her room. Instead she went to his, pulled on his parka, and climbed into his bed.

 

\---

 

She went back to work, took missions, as the days ticked by with Cassian still unconscious. She avoided the medbay now, became reckless with her life on missions, so much so that Kaytoo had marched up to Draven and said in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t going on any missions with that “crazy person” anymore.

 

There were no signs of Cassian waking up.

 

\---

 

She lived on caf and rations, avoiding the mess hall and everyone’s sympathetic stares. She was put on leave, not allowed to leave the base, put in charge of monitoring patrol runs so she could be kept busy. She took to wearing Cassian’s parka all the time, and no one had the heart to say anything.

 

Cassian’s vital signs showed no improvement.

 

\---

 

She had been on her way to the hangar to check in with the speeders coming back from patrol when Draven found her, stopped her in the hall.

 

“Erso.” He called to her, his face drawn, his mouth a thin line. Jyn stopped, saluted half-heartedly, and Draven would have rolled his eyes if he wasn’t so intent on keeping his composure. But it seemed he had no time, or patience, for nonsense. “You’re to report to the medbay.”

 

“Sir?” Jyn’s eyes narrowed.

 

“ _ Now _ .” and he turned on his heel and walked back the way he came.

 

\---

 

She fully expected to run into the guards standing outside the medbay doors, but she shouldn’t have been surprised they weren’t there. She had been sent there on Draven’s orders, after all. The medbay doors whooshed open, and when the med droids saw her they immediately retreated a few paces. She took a few tentative steps in, looking for a superior officer to give her orders, but no one was there save the med droids.

 

And Cassian.

 

He was lying on a raised bed in a recessed corner of the room, surrounded by medical equipment and monitors beeping around him. A med droid was bent over him, but as soon as it was aware of her presence it skittered away. She walked up to his bedside and suddenly realized why she was there.

 

His skin was pale, his cheeks sunken. His hair was greasy, matted to his skin. The lines on his face were more pronounced, and he looked so much older than he should have. Jyn suppressed a sob at the sight of him, cursing herself for letting guards and her own fear keep her away. She climbed into the small space on the bed beside him, curled herself around him, and only distantly heard a med droid squeak in protest as she fell into the deepest sleep she had had in a long time.

 

\---

 

He finally woke.

 

She had been sleeping, and thought she was dreaming when she felt a soft kiss pressed to the top of her head. She whipped her head up to see his eyes open, staring intently at her, his mouth curving into a small smile. She wanted to cry and scream at the same time. Instead, she opted for bravado.

 

“It’s about time you woke up.” she fought to make her voice sound even, but she couldn’t help when it cracked at the end.

 

“Had to.” his voice was scratchy from disuse, but Jyn still thought it made the most beautiful sound. “I made a promise.”

 

“ _ Welcome home _ .”


End file.
